a bit old skool- P4 1.6a / BG7 ocing

Many moons ago I set out to build a DAW. Almost there. Running a 1.6a overclocked. Since I havene't been in here in forever, any quick thought you have about doing this? So far I was up to 2.4 GHZ and when I ran SiSandra burn in (10x) the core temp went up to (only?) 48 degrees C. Is this good? I have the following rig:

My advice? If you list the bios as an important part of the spec and say that you're still learning about it. And then there's the factory standard cooling. I'd advise you to not overclock until you get a bit more experience under your belt.

Most people here will say don't overclock at all. If I had your setup, I'd be overclocking, sure. I'd probably hit 2.1 and stick it there...if I decided that I needed it, and if I decided that the chip was expendable. The 1.6a is an easy chip to overclock, compared to others, but there are STILL a LOT of problems that you might come across. Some of the most experienced overclockers around still have not figured out a solution to infamous "Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome" that can strike your P4 without notice. I've been overclocking for about five years, before overclocking was an easy walk in the bios and change a few settings, and my friends are primarily computer techies and overclockers who talk about the latest exploits in cooling technology...and I'd still be scared of overclocking a P4 system for use as a DAW. I overclock all the time for my game-playing system, but when I mess with music, especially a client's music, I don't want to take chances.

Today's processors are just obscenely powerful. Do you need the extra half a gig of speed? Why don't you try out how many plugins you can run in your sequencer of choice before it dies? If you don't see yourself using that many plugins, keep it stock.

Make sure you know exactly what you're doing before you go and overclock your system. Judging by your post, I'm not sure you do.

Vincent is correct. The 1.6a is very easy to OC. I'm not too sure how well the Abit OC. The Asus boards are typically more OC friendly IMHO.
I've seen the 2.0's give the sudden BSOD more so than the 1.6a's. I think it has to deal with colling and core voltage settings. Also the Asus BIOS loves to boot into what is called safe mode when doing this. An annoying aspect I might add but it's there for a reason to tell you to be careful and that you could blow your CPU up!

Thanks for the input guys. Opus, you were the one I was gunning for on this one, really, so this is cool.

Yes, I'm not fully educated on this overclocking stuff. But, I've read and consulted and read some more. Two fellas over at prorec have been holding my hand thorugh this. They are and have been running 2.4Ghz for some time now- with all factory heatsink/fan as I understand it.
I'm sitting at 2.14 and thats fine.

I agree with first guy. Run it at 1.6 and see what I can do. Although, I bought this for the express reason of overclocking it.

Does this sound correct- Ran a burn in test at 2.4 Ghz (150fsb) with SiSandra for 10x. CPU coretemp according to my mobo readings got up to 48 degrees and sat there. Rapidly went back down. Normal temp at idle is like 36 or 37. Core voltage never above 1.65. Should I be skippin-to-the-loo-my-darling-ing?

No BSOD yet. But I don't think I'll live at 2.4.

And, yeah, the Abit BG7 is set up overclocker friendly. Even for a ninny like me!

I'm checking out the site you recommended, Opus.

You got a favorite burner? Need a new one. Was thinking Plextor, but just saw a Sony48x24x48 for $49 after rebates. But I'd just a soon spend the $ if needed.

Be careful about trusting temperatures from an Abit board. While all Intel based boards read off the on-chip thermal diode, this reading may not be accurate! I happen to LOVE Abit boards and have owned 5. However, I'll be one of the first to tell you that their thermal diode readings need MAJOR calibration. My current grunt-work board, an Abit ST6, reads about 7 degrees too high. My gaming board in need of an upgrade, an Abit BF6, reads approximately 5 degrees too low. A friend's BD7-II that I installed for him reads a little on the low side, about 1-2 degrees...

Also, when I talk about Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome...I don't mean just BSOD. I mean DEATH. The chip will up and die...boom. Not to scare you or anything, but many an experienced overclocker has seen this happen. You might want to check out this thread on http://www.overclockers.com about the problem. Sometimes it manifests itself in a week...sometimes in a few months. In any case, there are many cases of overclocking shortening the Northwood P4's life in a way almost unheard of with previous chips.

The 1.6 is such a great chip to overclock, I've seen many people hitting ABOVE 2.4 on standard voltage. That extra 10% of voltage you're feeding the chip is worrying me. It just might be the thing. MUCH better to err on the side of caution. If you're able to reach 2.1 GHz without any extra voltage, or perhaps LESS than standard voltage, I'd be less worried. Also, good cooling! I can name a bunch of brands that you should look at: Zalman, Thermalright, Alpha, Swiftech, Arkua...

Burners...Check out the Yamaha CRW-F1. Been going down in price, and it does an extremely good quality burn on a wide variety of media. I've also liked the Ricoh and Aopen (Ricoh chipset) drives for their media compatibility. Plextor is a VERY good brand as well, but a little more expensive and, in my experience, a little bit more finnicky than the Ricohs. While you can't get Ricohs in the US anymore, it is possible to find Aopens. Very good drives, from cheap Princos to high quality Taiyo Yudens, my Aopen drives (first a 12x, then a 20x) have given me nothing but great burns.